Tri-county Transit To Drop South Seminole Bus Route

July 2, 1986|By Paul Kirby of The Sentinel Staff

CASSELBERRY — Saying it had only a fifth of the ridership of the three other bus routes it operates in Seminole County, Tri-County Transit will discontinue a route Saturday that services south Seminole.

Despite attempts to draw more riders by increasing the number of streets it covers, Route 38 attracts fewer than four passengers an hour, Tri-County Transit assistant general manager Mike Harbour said. The average ridership for other routes is 20 passengers an hour.

The route, which runs between Winter Springs, Casselberry, Rolling Hills, Forest City and the State Road 434 area, has been losing $8,500 to $9,000 a month, Harbour said.

Dropping the route will save the county more than $67,000 in next year's subsidy to the transit system. The county's contribution -- at $292,545 -- will still be $75,000 more than this year.

Several Winter Springs commissioners complained that the transit system failed to advertise the route, which began running in December 1984, and said most residents were unaware it operated in the city.

But Leo Gecewicz, the system's transportation director, said schedules and press releases distributed to advertise the route failed to bolster ridership. ''We just had no success on that run at all,'' Gecewicz said. Expanding the route to increase the number of riders also failed, he said.